Malapropisms...

[StraferJack]

some Paddy just stole it from under everyone's noses...

[El Pibe]

more of a hiberno-spic please!!! Or is that hispano-mick?

[StraferJack]

professor in hispanomicks

[the-e-dealer]

and pre order pre book etc etc

david_carnell Wrote:

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> Not to highjack your thread VBC but tautologies

> always bug me:

>

> ATM machine

> PIN number

> new innovation

>

> and my personal poke my own eyes out favourite:

>

> free gift

>

> ....oh and the contradiction that is prefixing

> "unique" with stuff like "very" or "slightly" -

> it's either bloody unique or it's not!!

>

> So anyway....oh yeah I mentioned on another thread

> "to all intensive purposes"

>

> Great thread btw VBC! Welcome to forum addiction

> 101.

[Earl Aelfheah]

I recently had a crisis of confidence when I bought a set of 'alum keys'. I had always called them 'alan keys'. Turns out both are actually correct and that relaying this tedious story was pointless. Just reminded of it by the Duct / Duck tape thing above. I'll get my coat....

[the-e-dealer]

deleted as its upset elpube.

[El Pibe]

the-e-dealer Wrote:

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> Grasp the Nettle V grasp the metal!

So you keep mentioning.

But grasp the nettle is the correct phrase, based on the idea that if you touch a nettle it'll sting you, but if you grasp it tightly it won't. in other words, if you're going to do something potentially unpleasant its better to go for it than do it half heartedly.

'Grasp the mettle' is the usual misunderstanding, but doesn't really make any sense.

I've no idea what 'grasp the metal' is trying to say, any particular type of metal?

Grasping plutonium, gold and mercury would all be rather different things figuratively speaking.

So bravo on a double layered malapropism!!

[Earl Aelfheah]

Is that true, that if you grasp a stinging nettle hard it won't sting you? I don't fancy testing it.

[LadyNorwood]

Coldslaw - another gem from my late M-i-L...

[Loz]

Mettle/Nettle - ironically, from the origin of 'grasp the nettle'...

Aaron Hill's Works, circa 1750, contains the first example that I can find that advises that a nettle be grasped: "Tender-handed stroke a nettle, And it stings you, for your pains: Grasp it like a man of mettle, And it soft as silk remains."

[El Pibe]

so it's rhyming slang then ;)

I've never had enough mettle to test it either rahrahrah. THere are about 29 million of them in my garden should i feel the urge though.

Maybe the guy that came up with the theory tried it out on a false nettle and was satisfied http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/woodland/plants/false_nettle.htm

nope apparently that one doesnt live in the uk, probably this then http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urtica_dioica_subsp._galeopsifolia

[Seabag]

Just heard my other half say to our Teen-boy

"It's called a cat lick"

"A cat lick, really?" he replies

"Yes, a cat lick" she says

"Don't you mean a Cow lick" he enquires

"Yes that's it, A COW LICK"

[maxxi]

Not malapropisms but the above reminded me of "a cat lick and a promise" as a term for an all-too-brief wash; my missus refers to the same as a "whore's bath".

[david_carnell]

A French/Spanish shower is to just spray on deodorant rather than wash.

[Seabag]

david_carnell Wrote:

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> A French/Spanish shower is to just spray on

> deodorant rather than wash.

Tell, does this include a blast upstairs & downstairs ?

[El Pibe]

we've had eggcorns, now another new (to me) term.

mondegreens

http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/mildew-all-around-me-and-other-mondegreens

"R.E.S.P.E.P.P...."

[Townleygreen]

rahrahrah noted "I recently had a crisis of confidence when I bought a set of 'alum keys'. I had always called them 'alan keys'. Turns out both are actually correct and that relaying this tedious story was pointless. Just reminded of it by the Duct / Duck tape thing above. I'll get my coat...."

The term is spelled "Allen keys". They are also called hex keys.

[oilworker]

A damp squid.

[El Pibe]

love that, heard it a surprsing number of times. I reckon it qualifies for an eggcorn.

[oilworker]

that would be a mute point..

[El Pibe]

:D

[the-e-dealer]

I'm not going out tonight I am feeling antisocial.

[adonirum]

Whose coat's this jacket?

(works best in a broad Welsh accent)

[MarkT]

Elsewhere on the forum yesterday, a post included a link to an outside source, with the comment:

"Not sure about the voracity of the piece though."

Mark